Here is a quick rundown of major issues being discussed by policymakers from an endocrine perspective and the Society’s current advocacy work.
What’s Happening in Washington?
Capitol Hill just got a little quieter. The House of Representatives is on a month-long recess. The Senate just left town at the end of this week for a truncated one-week recess.
Congress has just 11 legislative days remaining when both chambers are scheduled to be in session before the fiscal year ends. This means there is very little time to resolve all appropriations matters. Leaders in both chambers have already acknowledged the need for a continuing resolution (CR) to tide them over. The question is how long would the CR run and what is the outlook for government shutdown?
While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying hard to avoid a government shutdown and committed to passing an appropriations legislative package, House conservatives are digging in for a fight and formulating a plan to try and sink the Defense-Labor-HHS package that includes NIH funding. They fear that moving this legislation before the November election would leave them with very little leverage in a lame-duck session to fight over immigration and border security. President Donald Trump also has threatened a government shutdown unless he gets funding for a border wall.
What We are Working on:
NIH Funding – As noted above, the fight to continue to increase funding levels for NIH is heating up. The US Senate is scheduled to vote on an appropriations bill that includes funding for NIH on or about August 15. We are advocating for $39.3 billion for NIH.
- We will send out an advocacy alert August 9 to all US researcher members.
- We have already sent APOCC, RACC, and FLARE an invite to take action on the campaign and to participate in twitter campaign.
- In addition, we are a sponsor of the September 13 Rally for Medical Research Hill Day and we will launch a special “National Day of Action” campaign on that day.
Transgender Medicine & Research – We held a very successful briefing for congressional offices this week in which we advocated for transgender health priorities. Democrat and republican congressional staff from both chambers attended the standing-room only event. See coverage below for more details:
- “Experts Push for Transgender Health Priorities in Congressional Briefing”
- “Filling the Info Gaps in Transgender Healthcare.”
Women’s Health – We submitted comments on the proposed Title X Rule, which would place additional restrictions on eligibility for federal family planning grant money. Over 167,000 comments were submitted to the Department of Health & Human Services, but we were one of a few medical societies to take a position. Our comments focused on the importance of Title X funding for both contraceptive and preventive services for women and our concern that the proposed changes will eliminate access for many women who depend on Title X-funded facilities for their healthcare.
Physician Payment – We continue to work on comments to the proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The 1,500 page proposal contains many significant changes to Medicare payment. Our summary of the proposed rule can be found here. Comments are due September 10.
Diabetes – We submitted comments with the Diabetes Advocacy Alliance to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force on its draft research plan to address abnormal blood glucose in Type 2 Diabetes. Our comments request the addition of systematic reviews, studies in community-based settings, and interventions for diabetes self-management education and support, among other items, in the research plan.
To find out how you can become more involved in endocrine advocacy, please contact [email protected].
Loading ...